There's always at least one reptile who each day must get the chop, draw the short straw, swallow the raw prawn, and this day it's Stutch doing the "we'll all be rooned" routine...
By Michael Stutchbury
Contributor
The pond would have loved to slip in a line or three from Said Hanrahan but the pond has a lot of work to do this day, what with Polonius, the dog botherer and "Ned" all jostling for attention.
The pond decided to list them in order of word count and time spent suffering, with Polonius relatively brief at 4 minutes, thereby ensuring him first place, even if he was just going over the same ground the bromancer had ploughed for 11 minutes yesterday...
The header: Donald Trump’s Nobel obsession puts the world at risk in Putin’s case; Appeasing a dictator who murders his enemies and invades neighbouring nations is not how to negotiate the fate of a country whose continued existence is important to the free world.
The caption for the vassal red carpet King, a pawn to the Tsar: US President Donald Trump salutes as he walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15. Picture: AFP
The image got poor Polonius agitated from the get go:
As previously pointed out in this column, I do not suffer from Trump derangement syndrome and well understand why he has substantial support in the US, particularly among those who live outside the wealthy coastal cities.
Trump has a certain appeal to those who feel that they are looked down on by wealthy, fashionable left-wing elites – and they are. The US President himself is a wealthy educated man but he does not present as an elitist to everyday Americans.
Most political leaders in Western democracies have substantial egos. After all, few individuals have the confidence to present as someone who should be supported in a popular ballot. But Trump is among the vainest of the vain.
This would not matter all that much, except for the fact Trump seems obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s not at all clear why. After all, it’s just another gong, albeit a high-profile one. It would seem that Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize obsession could endanger the security of the free world.
The reptiles decided the best way to present Polonius's prattle was to saturate it with images and AV distractions: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday (November 25) that an amended peace plan for Ukraine must reflect the "spirit and letter" of an understanding reached between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump at their Alaska summit.
Amazingly, Polonius doubted King Donald's knowledge of history:
Trump has an unhealthy attraction to foreign dictators, possibly because he believes he can prevail over them after the diplomatic equivalent of an ultimate fighting championship.
But it’s not the same. Trump is a democratically elected president – his second (and final) term will end towards the end of January 2029. Putin, who was elected president in theory, is in fact a dictator. There is no end-by date in Putin’s case. Trump is hoping to end a war and Putin is in no hurry to win a war. After all, Putin has time on his side and no political rivals to worry about, it would seem.
It is not clear to what extent Trump understands Europe – western and eastern. Certainly he has been correct in insisting that the nations of Western Europe should do more to ensure their own security, and he has had some success in this area.
Moreover, unlike some predictions made during Trump’s first term, the US remains in NATO under the Trump administration.
However, Trump appears to know little about what was Imperial Russia under the tsars, which became the Soviet Union under the Bolshevik dictatorship of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and contemporary Russia under Putin.
Cue another interruption, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a very frank speech to the world where he put European leaders on notice, laughing at them for making claims about Russian military intentions.
The distractions became more closely spaced, as if in response to Polonius deciding to prattle on with a history lesson:
Ukraine was re-formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukrainians well remember the Holodomor of 1932-33. This was effectively a forced famine imposed on Ukraine by Stalin that led to the deaths of between three million and five million. It’s understandable why contemporary Ukrainians – under the leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky – want to maintain their state. But this is also of interest to the West.
Quick, another visual: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump meet in the Oval Office last February. Picture: AFP
Polonius decided to revive the domino theory, much loved in his 'Nam days ...
Russia has more than three times the population of Ukraine and the latter cannot survive in its current state forever. Clearly a ceasefire, perhaps treaty, is called for. In the process it is important that the Trump administration does not make unnecessary concessions and continues to put pressure on Putin. The same can be said for the EU nations.
But there are immediate problems. The proposed 28-point peace plan is unduly harsh on Ukraine. It’s like asking Putin what he wants and then giving it to him. Of special concern is Putin’s demand that Ukraine should be denied military weapons along with any prospect of joining NATO. This requirement, if implemented, would leave Ukraine severely ill-equipped to resist further Russian aggression.
Quick, yet another distraction ...Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, and Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff at talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, in April 11. Picture: Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
And after just two sentences ...
If Trump fails to understand Putin, the former KGB operative, his hand-picked negotiator Steve Witkoff is significantly worse. The White House has not denied that Witkoff briefed Putin about how to handle Trump to get the best outcome for Russia in negotiations over Ukraine.
.. another visual distraction, with the reptiles still intent on reviving the fortunes of the disgraced Pezzullo, and if that meant interrupting the Polonial flow, so be it ...
Former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo claims if Russian President Putin is rewarded, it will be a "capitulation" to Russia. “It’ll be a capitulation on a par with the capitulation to Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in the 1930s,” Mr Pezzullo told Sky News Australia. “Were Putin to be rewarded, as you’ve just seen him say in that package you just played, he’s saying, ‘I will get what I want, by any means available’.”
Polonius could barely get out a few more sentences...
But sucking up to a dictator who murders his political enemies and invades neighbouring nations is not the way to negotiate the fate of a country whose continued existence is important to the free world.
... before the reptiles interrupted yet again with little Marco...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a press conference following a closed-door talks on the plan to end the war in Ukraine at the US Mission in Geneva, on November 23. Picture: AFP
Sad to say Ukraine has many problems at the moment, Zelensky's top aide quits after anti-corruption searches of his home - Vlad would just have found a convenient window - so desperate times called for desperate measures ...
We probably would not be facing this situation now if president Bill Clinton had not convinced Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994 – an eventuality he now regrets. As to Australia, the message now – as ever – is that the nations that invest in their own security are likeliest to achieve security.
Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.
How desperate? Ignore King Donald and blame it on the Clintons.
Likely emails were involved.
And so to a refreshing distraction, courtesy the infallible Pope ...
Oh that's cruel ...
... almost as cruel as speculation mounted about another 'toon, with people wondering just what Pauline was doing to Barners under the burqa ...
He seemed to be enjoying himself, but surely the infallible Pope wouldn't be doing a pegging joke? Avert your eyes, vulgar youff ...
Enough already with the comedy, it's time for this day's edition of the Australian Daily Zionist News, brought to you by the dog botherer, rambling on for a full 7 minutes...
The header: A clarion call to stand up to the scourge of anti-Semitism; In public and in private, I have tried to offer a view about where I think the silent majority stand on anti-Semitism. And I have tried to explain their worrying silence.
The caption for the snap featuring the head reptile: Editor in Chief of The Australian Michelle Gunn and Steven Lowy during The Australian’s book launch of A Different Country at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday. Picture: Nikki Short
It turned out that this edition of the Daily Zionist News was actually just an excuse to plug a book, so now's a good time to offer congratulations to the infallible Pope, with The Canberra Times sensibly putting the story outside the paywall ...
Oh dear, more visuals of mass starvation as a war strategy? Together with mass destruction and ethnic cleansing?
There'll be none of that here ...
Because I’m not Jewish, my empathy has felt inert; you cannot stand in someone else’s shoes and know their vulnerability. And there can be no downplaying the viciousness of the threats and attacks, or their consequences.
So in public and private discussions I have tried to offer a view about where I think the silent majority would stand on this issue. And I have tried to explain their worrying silence.
My aim has been to convince my Jewish compatriots the overwhelming majority of Australians stand with them and cannot abide this hatred. I guess I have been trying to convince myself, too, because even as we accept the difficulty of this sickening challenge, we need hope. The alternative is not only unthinkable for the Jewish community. It also would sound the death knell of this country and its compact of multiculturalism, tolerance and mateship.
Jews make up less than half of 1 per cent of the population
Axiomatically, members of Australia’s Jewish congregations fully understand the role, institutions and visibility of their communities. But for most Australians living outside the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney the Jewish community is almost non-existent. The 2021 census showed about 100,000 Jews live in those concentrated communities in our two largest cities while 15,000 more are spread across the other 99.9 per cent of the country. Jews make up less than half of 1 per cent of the population, so in the vast majority of towns and suburbs there is no synagogue, no Jewish school and no Jews.
Just to make the plugging of the book even clearer ...A Different Country is a landmark collection drawn from the journalism of The Australian, bringing together the masthead’s most significant reporting and commentary on the seismic impact of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel.
Whenever the reptiles get this way, the pond likes to slip in a little Haaretz ...
Hush now, none of that talk here ...there's a book to flog ...
I was almost 40 years old before I knowingly met and had regular contact with a Jew. That was when I joined the staff of then foreign minister Alexander Downer and became a work colleague and friend of Josh Frydenberg.
Raised a Catholic, I learned about the Jews and Israel from an early age but always through the lens of Jesus and the Bible. Israel was the Holy Land, Jesus was a Jew, and when priests and nuns spoke of their pilgrimages to Jerusalem it seemed about as distant and exotic as anything I could imagine, I never dreamed I would walk those streets.
At school we learned a little about the wartime horrors of the ghettoes and Auschwitz, but our awareness was deepened mainly by the television mini-series Holocaust in the late 1970s. These were the days before video players and, like Roots, Holocaust prompted compulsory family gatherings to watch each episode.
But that was it. We did not see Jews, meet Jews or see any evidence of their congregations, schools or communities.
The reason I mention this is by way of consolation, I guess. The silent majority would be appalled at the rise of anti-Semitism, but few are moved to agitate over it because it is divorced from their daily reality. It is very real for me now; having lived in Sydney’s east for almost two decades I have many Jewish friends and am familiar with synagogues, Jewish schools and other neighbourhood institutions with their lively communities and constant security. After one anti-Semitic attack in the area, police knocked on our door checking for security camera evidence.
Apart from most Australians being distant and detached from this issue, there has been no obvious rallying point or mechanism for people to show their support. The silent majority do not march in the street or join social media campaigns, so beyond yellow ribbons for hostages there has been no clear way to show solidarity.
Cue a visual interruption from the book flogging ... At the Opera House this week, News Corp chair and Fox Corporation executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch recounted the need to bear witness in Israel, and the confronting horror of doing so. Picture: Nikki Short
Speaking of bearing witness, perhaps another slice of Haaretz to provide some balance?
The dog botherer embarked on a lengthy rant, and the pond let him because there had to be room for more Haaretz ...
These blood libels had their desired effect, demonising Israel and Jews and framing the instigators of the war as the victims, thus helping to intimidate supporters into silence. It is worth noting that even now, when media can report out of Gaza, we see no reporting that corroborates their wild claims, so we presume the facts do not bear them out (we will not hold our breath waiting for the lies to be corrected).
Zero leadership from the government
Then, of course, there has been the appalling lack of political leadership from the Prime Minister. A one-time anti-Israel street marcher himself, Anthony Albanese has offered encouragement and policy succour to the anti-Israel mobs, and has said and done the bare minimum when it comes to condemning and combating anti-Semitism.
Many of his team have been even worse, and the premiers and their police commissioners have been far too slow and timid in their responses. I am confident mainstream Australians would have rallied around and supported strong action by governments and authorities, but we will never know because leadership went AWOL.
Instead, Australians who are Jewish have been left feeling vulnerable and abandoned. This year I have met and heard from many of them in their halls, synagogues and homes, and it has been harrowing to hear their frustration and disappointment, and see the sense of betrayal in their eyes.
Young mothers traumatised by the hard choice of whether to drop their children at Jewish pre-schools, guarded by armed security. Would they be safer somewhere else? A synagogue and a childcare centre have been fire-bombed.
Holocaust survivors who love Australia deeply for the productive and harmonious lives it has given them have now seen the hatred of 1930s Europe chase them into another century on the other side of the world.
As they relay their despair, these survivors convey a sense of disbelief because this grotesque animosity upends all they have come to believe about this country.
Some Australian Jews have told me they stopped wearing their kippahs or Star of David jewellery when shopping. Others have made a point of declaring they still do, defiantly adhering to their habits even when there is risk of abuse or harm.
These are our fellow Australians, subjected to threats, abuse and attacks. In their own country they feel alone and disregarded.
That we have allowed this to happen diminishes our nation.
The arms of the country should have been around them since October 8, 2023, with political leaders showing the way and bringing the people with them.
Instead, our leaders have tolerated resentment, much of which has been driven from within the much larger and more electorally significant Muslim population.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke this month rightly cancelled the visa of a neo-Nazi protester, but this raises the question of why no visa holder or hate preacher has been singled out from the viciously anti-Jewish protests on October 8, 2023, at Lakemba in Sydney and October 9, 2023, at the Sydney Opera House.
Back in August, after the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli mob marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge – complete with terrorist flags, keffiyeh, chants of “death, death, to the IDF” and a poster of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei – I asked my television audience to email their views so I could share them on air.
The entire point became even clearer with the next snap featuring a lounge of lizards, or perhaps a bask of crocodiles ...The Australian’s reporter Yoni Bashan, on stage with Cameron Stewart and Paul Kelly during a panel discussion. He remembered an innocent time – just over two years ago – when to reveal you were Jewish elicited nothing but references to Seinfeld.
That attempt at a Stephen Miller look surely earns another slice of Haaretz? (possible paywall).
This time on how to slip a murder under the rug and take care of your own:
Eventually it was time to wrap up proceedings:
“Please continue your support of our Jewish community,” wrote Michael, “we need to let them know we stand with them, thank you.” Barbara wrote: “Please pass on my support for the Jewish community. I’m both dismayed and ashamed of the road that so many are taking.” Christine said: “I stand with our beautiful Jewish community and I am sorry our government does not give you the protection and respect you deserve.” Brad wrote: “We are the silent majority and fully support you in defence against Hamas, don’t let the gullible fools that protest in favour of this terrorist regime distract you from your cause.” Lexi said: “I would like to add my voice to the many in support of the Australian Jewish community, it breaks my heart to see this beautiful country consumed by hatred and lies.”
Time for non-Jews to speak up
Jews in Australia need to know this wellspring of fairness, friendship and respect exists, despite a recklessly negligent federal government. Non-Jews must speak up.
The launch of The Australian’s A Different Country at the Opera House this week reclaimed Bennelong Point for tolerance, plurality and mateship. The event was at once daunting and uplifting.
People as diverse in their impacts on the nation as businessman and philanthropist Steven Lowy and singer-songwriter Deborah Conway spoke about the distress of experiencing racial or religious bile in their own country, but how they clung to optimism. News Corp chair and Fox Corporation executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch recounted the need to bear witness in Israel, and the confronting horror of doing so.
And, poignantly, journalist Yoni Bashan remembered an innocent time – just over two years ago – when to reveal you were Jewish elicited nothing but references to Seinfeld. Now, unthinkable as it may sound in what we like to think of as an egalitarian paradise, by revealing their faith Jews can invite ostracisation or open hostility.
We have a duty to ensure this scourge is defeated because the rampant anti-Semitism that sprang up after the Hamas atrocities more than two years ago is a direct challenge to the values not just of Australia but also of Western civilisation. The lessons of history are clear, and chilling.
And so to the point of it all, and no, the pond won't be providing a link:
Pre-order your copy of A Different Country here.
The pond will however do another link to Haaretz ...
Weird days indeed.
Epstein, Epstein, Epstein ...
And so to "Ned's" Everest.
The pond left this Sherpa challenge, this Herculean feat to last, on the basis that those who've already had more than enough can head off to do something useful with their lives...
The reptiles thought it was worthy of a big digital edition splash ...
The reptiles were infatuated by that image.
The header: Australia's under-16 social media ban is the 'biggest game changer we've seen', When it comes to protecting kids from Big Tech, author Jonathan Haidt calls Australia’s social media ban for under-16s ‘the biggest game changer we’ve seen, period’. And it’s mums who drove it.
The caption for the tragic artwork which should have been credited as AI slop, what with Grok routinely praising his master Elon in the sloppiest ways imaginable: Australia is the first country in the world to say to call time on social media for kids online, says Jonathan Haidt. Artwork: Emilia Tortorella
"Ned" delivered an 11 minute sermon, one sure way to erase Emilia's shame from the memory bank:
On December 10, Australia’s new law comes into effect, guaranteed to affect millions of households and families – its core provision being that designated social media platforms and companies will not be permitted to let Australians under 16 create or possess an account.
This will have a profound impact on young people, parents, families and schools. It is a large-scale social and technological revolution where Australia is leading the way across the world.
Success or failure in Australia will influence not just our own country but also shape how other democracies counter and mitigate the damaging consequences of the smartphone on young people – what Haidt in his 2024 book The Anxious Generation called “the rewiring of childhood”.
In that book Haidt identified four “foundational” reforms to save childhood from the malaise engendered by Big Tech with the social media ban for under-16s being an enshrining initiative. In the process he has become a global advocate for governments to act on his research-based analysis and conclusions.
In an exclusive interview with Inquirer Haidt says: “The Australian bill to have an age minimum, and have the companies responsible for verifying it, is by far the most important single piece of legislation ever enacted on planet Earth to protect children in the internet age. In a sense it is the first real piece of legislation to be enacted since everything else is fiddling with details.
“We need a global recognition that many of the things happening to kids online should not be happening and that social media is an inherently adult activity.
“Australia is the first country in the world that said: ‘We’re calling time on it.’ Your Prime Minister said: ‘It may be a rough transition but we’re going to do it.’ The proof of how important this is, is the fact that so many countries are now planning on following. The Australian bill is the biggest game changer we’ve seen, period.
The mothers’ revolution
“We are absolutely seeing a revolution. I have been calling it a mothers’ revolution because that is what has been driving it all over the world. Fathers care a lot, too, but it is mothers in every country who are already desperate to do something, who already feel their kids being pulled away. Wherever I look it is mothers or female legislators or the wives of male legislators who are taking the lead on this.
The pond abhors mobile phones, but also abhors Haidt, a huckster out flogging a book designed to create fear, loathing, panic and moral hysteria ... Author Jonathan Haidt. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian
What a pity "Ned" didn't read the likes of Candice L. Odgers in Nature, The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness? The Evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety - and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes:
Note that line about age-based restrictions and bans on mobile devices being ineffective in practice, or worse could backfire given what is known about adolescent behaviour.
It'll come in handy ...
Yes, we're talking about you, naughty Tamworth High School thugby league boys, passing around copies of Playboy under the library desks, as if no one had the first clue as to why you were chortling and sniggering while pointing at boobs ... long before mobile phones were a thing, making the pond blush and look away.
Oh you filthy, dirty preverts, and without any chance for the pond to blame it all on the intertubes.
What could go wrong with the little sneaks?
An obscure social media platform called Yope has suddenly become the top app in Australia’s Apple App Store, according to data from analytics platform Sensor Tower. The app was 316th in that chart just last week.
Similarly, ByteDance’s Instagram competitor Lemon8 is currently second, after consistently being ranked around the 20s to 40s over the past month.
These apps did not simultaneously climb the American Apple App Store charts, suggesting an Australian-specific trend.
These rapid climbs up the charts — indicating a spike in downloads — have coincided with videos circulating that suggest these social media platforms could be refuges from Australia’s teen social media ban.
Luckily the keepers of the age-driven silos are on to it ...
All is well in the gulag.
Back to "Ned", blathering on at length ...
Facing a constitutional challenge filed in the High Court and an inevitable degree of disruption and complaint when the December 10 threshold is triggered, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament this week: “Despite the fact that we are receiving threats and legal challenges from people with ulterior motives, the Albanese government remains steadfastly on the side of parents and not of platforms. We will not be intimidated by threats. We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by Big Tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we stand firm.”
Building resistance
The selling point used by the Albanese government is that by lifting the age restriction from 13 to 16 this represents a delay, not a ban, to social media access, giving kids more time and maturity to build resistance; in effect, giving young people back their childhoods.
Haidt’s interview makes clear that Australia is the global focus of the campaign to turn back the corrosive impact of Big Tech that has seen Generation Z, born after 1995, become the collective test subjects for a remaking of childhood. He calls the worldwide acceptance of allowing kids to grow up on a smartphone “the biggest blunder we have ever made” in terms of child raising.
Asked about the criticism of his book and the critics of the Australian law, Haidt says: “We really don’t have a choice. The damage to children is so gargantuan. It’s not just mental health, the bigger damage is the loss of the ability to pay attention; we see test scores dropping, we see IQ dropping, so we don’t have a choice.
“But the wonderful thing is that the kids are actually not opposed. The adults seem to think the kids are going to riot, the kids are going to be furious about being separated from their phones. But what the kids are afraid of is not being separated from their phone, it’s being separated from the other kids.”
He says once everyone else is in the same situation, then acceptance comes much faster. Haidt says the pivotal aspect of the Australian law is making the tech companies responsible for validation. There are no penalties for under-16s or their parents who access an age-restricted account. The platforms face penalties of up to $49.5m if they refuse to take reasonable steps to implement the law.
The reptiles slipped in another snap, meaningless as most of them are, The European Parliament called on Wednesday (November 26) for the European Union to set minimum ages for children to access social media, to combat a rise in mental health problems among adolescents from excessive exposure. Rachel Faber reports.
We're meant to gaze at a snap of phones as the solution to gazing at phones?
The pond would rather turn, in the matter of Haidt, to Parker Molloy interviewing Siva Vaidhyanathan in relation to the matter. Inter alia ...
Nailed why Haidt appeals to "Ned".
"Ned" isn't a teacher, or a learner, he's a preacher, always has been.
Here continueth the lesson ...
The opponents constitute a bizarre coalition but could be formidable. They range from the libertarian right, with its obsessions about censorship; parts of the progressive left offended by a blunt use of state power; the Greens; a range of independents; human rights lawyers; a stack of academics; polarised media critics from both the left and right; some child safety advocates; the Big Tech companies; and activist young people saying the law won’t work and that its bad consequences will outweigh its good intentions.
The High Court challenge comes from the Digital Freedom Project led by NSW Libertarian politician John Ruddick, who told Chris Kenny on Sky News his action was designed to secure an injunction to stop the law from becoming operational on December 10. Ruddick said he opposed the law because “kids will get around it” and it constituted “censorship of the internet”. The hearing is likely to focus on the implied right of freedom in political communication.
In his recent New York visit – where Anthony Albanese also had a brief meeting with Haidt – the Prime Minister signalled the social media ban was one of the defining goals of his leadership, saying: “It’s the right thing to do by children and it is the right thing to do by parents. It isn’t foolproof but it is a crucial step in the right direction. We know from experience that schools banning phones in the classrooms has produced real and positive results – both academically and socially.”
Political perspectives
Albanese said he had been deeply affected by the stories of girls and boys “so overwhelmed by what got to them through their social media accounts, they saw no other way out”. He asked: “In what world should a 14-year-old be exposed to sexual extortion? It is a wilderness no child should know.” Referring to the December 10 trigger, Albanese said: “We know the world will be watching – and we are glad to have you with us.”
The pond realises that Albo doesn't have much of a clue about vulgar youff and thinks that government bans are the answer, but in reality he's pandering to the deep seated fears of the reptiles that in the end phones and social media will replace them entirely ... and given the demographic of their readership, perhaps that's right for once ... Tech giant Meta will begin removing the accounts of kids aged under 16 a week before the government's social media ban comes into effect.
Any reptile that thinks that entirely meaningless swathe of yellow will drag in Gen Z are deep in the valley of delusion with "Ned" and the mutton Dutton ...
Speaking to Inquirer on Thursday, Sussan Ley clarified the Coalition’s position: “We do support the social media ban because this was a Coalition initiative in the last term of parliament. We are very determined that it work in the real world. So we are not going to step back from holding the government to account to make sure it does work. It’s not good enough to simply put the rules out there and say if anything goes wrong it’s the big tech companies.
“I want to see the government stand up to Big Tech in the interests of kids. We know the tech companies are able to institute the required protections on their platforms. We will be watching closely to make sure the government ensures that they do.”
This is a different position from the confusion opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh caused on Sky News on Wednesday when she was more aligned with the critics, warning there was a “high risk” of failure, saying as shadow minister she questioned whether the policy “is going to work or not” and declaring: “I don’t support the rollout of it or what the government has done.”
On Thursday morning McIntosh issued a clarifying statement saying “the Coalition supports the social media ban” and wanted it to work but had “genuine concerns about Labor’s implementation”.
The reptiles introduced another AV distraction ... Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus discusses eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant being “summoned” to the US to testify before Congress over her “threat” to the free speech of Americans. “Inman Grant had been sent a letter calling her a ‘zealot for global takedowns’ and demanding she front up within a fortnight,” Ms Marcus said. “Republican and close Trump ally Jim Jordan is the congressman and chair of the judicial committee who penned the letter. “When I asked him on the US Report on Friday if he’d heard back yet from the eSafety Commissioner, he said she’s left him on read. “Inman Grant rejects her conduct has undermined anyone’s freedom of speech, including Americans.”
At this point the pond should offer a disclaimer.
The pond's partner has had a number of encounters with Grant, and considers her barking mad.
The pond tried to reduce the charge to misguided twit, but the pond's partner wasn't having it, predicting that there would be a great unravelling, beginning in December ...
Haidt tells Inquirer the biggest feature of the social revolution since the release of his book has been the realisation that people can have agency. He says: “A big part of this revolution – the biggest single change – is dropping the sense of inevitability and despair. When my book came out a lot of people said: ‘Oh, come on, you may be right but it’s too late, the train’s left the station, you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube, the technology’s here to stay, what are you going to do?’
“Now everybody knows that’s not true. We can put toothpaste back in the tube if our children’s lives depend upon it. I think we are now looking at the role of technology in our children’s lives in a very different way with the sense of possibility now that was largely absent two years ago.
“I was in Paris in April and someone connected me to President Macron’s office and he agreed to see me on the spur of the moment. We had a 20-minute meeting. He told me France will act, that he will try to work through the EU, and if he can’t get it through the EU then he will do it in France.
Leading the way
“I am extremely concerned about the known effects of Big Tech on the US congress. The US congress had never been able to do anything, not a single thing – ever – to protect children. We can’t sue Big Tech, no matter what they show to our kids. No other industry has this. No other industry has been granted freedom from responsibility for the harms they are committing. But thank god for Australia. You are going first, you volunteered to go first. I know your team sees this as a process – that even if it’s not right on the first day they will get it right in a relatively short order. I know the Scandinavian governments are also considering this. Leaders correctly perceive there is very broad popular support and they are acting.
“This is already happening in the United States where several states have raised the age. The problem is that Meta and the other tech companies, they fund all kinds of ‘citizens groups’ that file lawsuits, and bills are being held up in the courts. What I hope will happen is that as many countries follow Australia, especially if the EU follows Australia, then I think the companies will pretty much have to do it globally.”
Polls over 2024 and 2025 reveal overwhelming public support in Australia for tougher action on social media. A late 2024 YouGov survey showed 77 per cent of people backed the proposed social media ban with only 23 per cent opposed.
Could the pond end up agreeing with Uncle Elon? Elon Musk is a vocal opponent of the ban. Picture: AFP
Well he's an incredible, astonishing human bean, just ask Grok:
Elon Musk is an arch opponent, calling the proposed bans a “backdoor way to control access to the internet”. This prompts the question: will Donald Trump act on demands from Big Tech and retaliate against Australia because of the social media ban? Trump, obviously, is unpredictable, but Haidt is an optimist on this issue.
He says: “Donald Trump and JD Vance have shown that they are very focused on censorship, they are very upset about any government that tries to regulate content or that punishes people for tweets. So this is a major concern, except that on kids’ issues I haven’t seen any opposition. I have not seen any sign that the Trump administration is committed to keeping 11-year-olds on social media. I don’t see any sign the Trump administration is going to block efforts to protect children.”
Minister Wells has warned the implementation will be “really untidy” for months, a prudent precaution that probably understates the difficulties. There is apprehension within Labor about how some kids and parents will react. The message from Wells is the need for patient explanation to kids about the benefits inherent in the policy.
Scope for sabotage
The eSafety Commissioner has released advice for parents and kids. She makes the obvious point that because the policy won’t be 100 per cent effective that is no reason to oppose it. Young people often breach alcohol laws but that doesn’t mean such laws should be abandoned. But the scope for platforms to sabotage the policy shouldn’t be underestimated. For instance, platforms are expected to try to stop under-16s from using VPNs to pretend to be outside Australia. The eSafety Commissioner advice warns families that the restrictions may release a range of emotions among young people “including being upset, worried, frustrated, confused, sad or angry”.
The four reforms Haidt championed in his book are: no social media before 16, phone-free schools, no smartphones before high school, and more unsupervised play and childhood independence. He says the key to success is collective action: every parent who acts makes it easier for other parents to act. Haidt’s research has led him to reject the claim his solutions are radical, saying they would be widely welcomed by parents, kids and school principals.
He quotes Pew Research that a third of teens say they are on a social media site “almost constantly” – that’s about 16 hours a day – with 45 per cent saying it is “almost constantly”. This is a substantial period in which children are “not fully present” to what is happening around them. Surveys show high numbers of students being anxious “always” or “most of the time” with self-harm and suicide rates skyrocketing.
Asked about his critics, Haidt says some psychologists have been vocal claiming he confuses correlation with causation but the actual analytical work condemning him has been very limited: “What we are finding is that most people studying this actually do believe these things are hurting kids.”
Um, many people believe in an imaginary being that will give them a life of eternal bliss in the golf club of their choice ...
Simply believing something, even en masse, doesn't make it true ... even if it's believed by a flock of adults already in the grip of the phone cult, no matter how many times the pond tries to take the diabolical machine and hurl it into the abyss ...
That mass belief nonsense can be awkward ... as a recent movie suggested, it might get tricky deciding who to spend eternity with if you have more than one love of your life in your life and you meet up with all of them in your post-life nirvana ...
Now with "Ned" done, wonder how much of this is nostalgia about the way things were, and how promising the future seemed.
The pond drank of that kool-aid and wrote reports about the urgent need for everybody to be wired up.
Share a wistful moment of nostalgia with James Gleick, reviewing assorted intertubes books for the NYRB under the header How the Web Was Lost, The Internet was not meant to suck (*archive link):
Optimists can follow the links in hopes of finding the answer to that question.
Just watch out vulgar youff, what with AI slop the lizard Oz graphic standard, and bots everywhere, New X Games: Legitimate Groyper or Bangladeshi Bot (sorry, paywall, but there's a video.
Only Albo can keep you safe, but only if you stop listening to the reptile bots.
And so to end with a 'toon, which the pond must stress has absolutely nothing to do with the stress of vulgar youth, whether contemplating Gaza or events in the disunited states:
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